S5E22
· 57:36
Hey. It's Matt. Welcome to Money Lab. And I know what you're thinking from the title of this episode, but you should really pay attention because I think this is one of the most important things to talk about when it comes to a business for several reasons, and let me explain. So turn up my heater a little bit.
Matt Giovanisci:About page. Got it. Why am I even talking about this? Why do I think it's incredibly important? Well, for context and a little backstory on why I am paying attention to this right now and why I have to come out here and and think about it and brainstorm some stuff is that I use a software called Crazy Egg.
Matt Giovanisci:And what Crazy Egg does is it well, one of the things that it does is it allows me to add heat maps to my website. That way, I can see where people are clicking on my website, and one of those pages was my home page. I had I tried to I think for 30 to 60 days or something like that, and I had about 10,000 people visit the homepage. Right? Okay.
Matt Giovanisci:What did I discover when people visit the homepage? Yes. A lot of people clicked all of the buttons at the top. I had pool care, hot tub care, my chemicals in my courses. A lot of people click the search button.
Matt Giovanisci:Right? Those are white hot. Right? If you look at a heat map, all of that was white hot. Then I have 2 main buttons on my home page, white hot.
Matt Giovanisci:And then I have a bunch of articles, and it was kinda here and there and here and there and here and there. But then I scroll all the way to the bottom to the footer of my home page, which is a scroll. It takes a scroll. It's not just quick to get to. And I noticed another white hot link, a link that was being clicked.
Matt Giovanisci:And it was the link that says about us. And I thought that is an anomaly. That's kinda weird that so many people visited the home page and went right to the about section. So to me, that means that's a useful section to pay attention to. And one of the reasons I buried it in the footer was because I thought it was kind of who gives a shit, but it turns out a lot of people give a shit.
Matt Giovanisci:And so I have since moved or added an about link to the header. And why did I do this? Well, 1, obviously, it's an important page. It's it was just as hot as the other links, so I'm like, why would I have it all the way in the footer when it really should be at the top? And 2, and even more importantly, I think, SEO.
Matt Giovanisci:So we need, as a business and as a brand, in this day and age with AI and EEAT, right, expertise, experience, authority, trust, what we need is all those things. And, yes, every single one of our articles has my face, has my background. I have an about author section. We've been around since 2 thou the the domain has been registered since 2004. Yeah.
Matt Giovanisci:We've been around. But I think we can do a lot better at telling the behind the scenes of Swim University, and I think that sort of that layer of transparency is gonna help with EEAT. Just the as a the site as a whole. The more information we can put here, and we have to be very SEO friendly about it, the more information we put in this home page or this about page excuse me, the about page, I think the more overall, we'll start to see an increase in ranking just through the EEAT thing. Now the second piece of the social media piece is that I have a we I have an idea.
Matt Giovanisci:And my idea is well, one of the one of the things that I'd like to accomplish, and I get and this is such a weird thing to wanna accomplish, but, hey, what else am I gonna do? So I want to be the Internet's pool boy. That's sort of my secret goal. Well, not so secret now. And in order to achieve that, I'm just gonna be everywhere and be transparent in who I am and what I'm doing in this industry.
Matt Giovanisci:Now one of the reasons for having that sort of private mission is because I think it is the best way to attract backlinks. Uh-oh. Matt, what do you mean backlinks? I thought you didn't give a shit about backlinks. Well, that's true, except AI sort of changed my tune on it, because I thought, well, now if if AI was going around and reading websites and trying to figure out which websites were trustworthy or not, It's still doing that via machine learning.
Matt Giovanisci:However, we need more factors to make a website trustworthy, and that is that means human beings. So if the New York Times wants to do a story about, I don't know, something in the pool or hot tub related industry, and they have, you know, their crack team on it, a crack team of fine journalists who go out there and do their research, I want them to come to the same conclusion, which is, hey, if we're gonna interview anybody about this topic, this dude seems to be the guy. He's got a personality, he seems to know what he's talking about, and he is ubiquitous. And when we revisited his website, where we you know, eventually we when we saw him, he has a podcast, he has this website, he's on YouTube, he's got the biggest YouTube channel in this industry. And then we went to his website, and the first thing we clicked, because we're a crack team of journalists, the first thing we clicked was the about section.
Matt Giovanisci:So that means that we have to figure out what this crack team of journalists and what the general public expects to learn on this about page. So there's a few different pieces of criteria here. Now I'm walking around in my brewery trying to get my steps in, trying to brainstorm what to put on this page, because guess what? I have an about page. Right?
Matt Giovanisci:And I also have a whiteboard in front of me, so I wanna write down some ideas. But I do already have an about page. And what is it? Well, the very top, it's our mission. The mission statement could be a lot better, and I think we need a really, really good sentence.
Matt Giovanisci:Actually, let me start writing this down. Pull out my marker. Alright. So we need a real alright. Hold on.
Matt Giovanisci:Let me do that. Let me just write about page. By the way, I put these titles on this whiteboard because, usually, when I'm done recording, I tear the white paper off for the next round, but I take a picture so that I can quickly see, oh, what is this what is this particular piece about? Okay. So I'm just gonna write, because I I think we need it, is a mission statement, but I think it needs to be better.
Matt Giovanisci:Our mission statement I mean, just I'm gonna go I'm actually gonna go to the page, is, we simplify pool and hot tub care for everyone. Boring. Terrible. So we need to make that better. And we're saying the word, everyone.
Matt Giovanisci:What I want is the person who visits the the I gotta think about the person who visits the the page. I want them to feel like we are talking exclusively to that person. And now that person could be a journalist and that's fine, but maybe that journalist owns a pool or a hot tub. Right? So it's I mean, a better one would be like, we make pool and spa care easy for you.
Matt Giovanisci:Just that's a terrible one, but better than for everyone. Does that make sense? Alright. So we need a kick ass mission statement, and then we need a short, I think a short, history and claim backup. So, basically, and, also, I think the, mission statement is, like, the main h one.
Matt Giovanisci:Right? So the mission statement's the h one. The sub headline is basically like, how do we plan how do we plan to to to achieve that? I'll just write how how we plan to achieve mission. Alright.
Matt Giovanisci:That's just one block. Right? That's one block. Super simple. Now now what is the next piece?
Matt Giovanisci:What do people wanna know? We say, maybe it's history, maybe it's, you know yeah. So I think it should be, I'm gonna call it story, history. We do need team. So this is sort of like this is the literal about us content.
Matt Giovanisci:And I don't think this section should be very long because I think the story of our history with the team. Now that means, for me what does that mean? It means, well, I started the company in you know, I've been in the industry since 93. Maybe there's the, there's photos. I'm gonna write historic photos.
Matt Giovanisci:That's gonna be a tough one, because I I like, I don't have a picture of me as a child, although I could ask my dad. I'm pretty sure I don't have a picture of me working at the pool store as a kid, you know, stocking shelves. I I'm pretty sure. I do have a picture of me, you know, with our above ground pool. So I have that, roughly that age, So I could use that.
Matt Giovanisci:We have what we need, I've a 100% think we need this. Now we've on the on the page now, if I go back to it, we have yeah. This section where it's like, it's hard to find a trusted source of information you can rely on. That's where we come in, you know, you know, unbiased. I wanna write unbiased.
Matt Giovanisci:No affiliations, you know, journalistic integrity, that sort of nonsense, even though it's important. I say we're a family owned business, and I say we're a lot happens behind the scenes. Stupid sentence, wasteful. What started as a one man project has grown into a team of dedicated creators from around the world, cranking out the good stuff every season. Completely wrong.
Matt Giovanisci:We're not around the world. We're all we're based in Colorado. I'm gonna write New Jersey to Colorado. Got it. Now, we have individual team photos that were all independently taken in the same room.
Matt Giovanisci:That does not show that we're a family. It does not show that we're a team. So I think we need a team photo with with Odin, that's my cat's name, because that cat pictures always do well, And he's a he's he is an 18 pound, massively huge cat, and I think that will I don't know, be an intriguing picture. And YouTube plaque. I said I wrote plague because I wrote the g plaque.
Matt Giovanisci:There you go. The alright. So the the the I'm trying to think if we do a really nice photo, I think it should also be outside. It would be nice oh, I can't do it without an outside. Alright.
Matt Giovanisci:Cross him out. Fine. That was kitschy anyway. So if it's outside, I think it has to be because we are an outdoor company, essentially. Does it need to be, shot at a pool?
Matt Giovanisci:I think it would help. So outside pool, which means, unfortunately, we are not doing that in the next well, my brother has a pool at his. We could we could technically do it at I think he's I think he's as long as it's not snowing, then we can do it at his yeah. See, the problem with the pool is that nobody alright. I have to cross that out because all the pools are closed right now, and I want this done.
Matt Giovanisci:Okay. So we can always retake the photo later. I definitely think now we have 2 YouTube plaques because we just bought another one so that Steph could have one in her office and I could have one in my office. So we could hold up both. I think holding up one's enough.
Matt Giovanisci:And the only reason I think the plaque's interesting is because I've had 2 contractors over my house who have who have come who have seen my basement, who've seen my office and went, woah. Wait a minute. Are you famous? And I'm like, no. It's like I'm like, why why do you think I'm famous?
Matt Giovanisci:Like, you got a plaque, a YouTube plaque. I'm like, oh, that's no. Like, no. Trust me. So but that but but 2 people who've who I didn't think were younger than me, by the way, shows that apparently shows credibility, so I'm gonna use it.
Matt Giovanisci:And I think for a journalist, that is important that is an important distinction because they're gonna be like, oh, well, that means he's got a popular YouTube channel, so that means that he might maybe he's the guy. Now, granted, there are, I think I think only 2 other YouTubers in the pool and hot tub space with plaques. One of them is the guy that cleans pools, in the UK. The pool guy I think he's just the pool guy. And then the other one is a guy that cleans pools also, but teaches a little bit more, but he's more geared towards industry.
Matt Giovanisci:And then the pool guy is more geared towards, like, ASMR satisfactory type of content, not necessarily teaching homeowners what we you know? So we're specifically a niche within a niche carved out there. So what else do we have? Or what else do we think should go on an about page? Well, this is in no particular order, so we're gonna have to re we'll have to order this once we lay it out.
Matt Giovanisci:But we have we got let's let's think, have we satisfied the viewer? Have we satisfied the general person, you know, who who likes us? Well, 1, we wanna we wanna showcase our mission and how we plan to achieve it. 2, show that we're family owned. So I'm gonna write I'm gonna write this underneath.
Matt Giovanisci:Let me write get my rolly chair because it's starting to fill up the page here. Couple of things that I think, psychologically, are important for trust building factors to some people is being family owned, family owned, small team. Do we talk about the behind the scenes on how we do everything? No. I don't think we need to go that deep.
Matt Giovanisci:That's more for something a show like this. Family owned, small team. I'm gonna write this, but I don't think that this matters. I'll say based in Colorado, USA. That's that's helpful when we're selling chemicals to only US residents, But then outside of that, it's who gives a shit.
Matt Giovanisci:I'm gonna write education first. Well, I mean, some university should. That's a stupid one. I'm gonna cross that out. What else?
Matt Giovanisci:Yeah. History, I think, is important. Okay. The other thing let's just move on because I know that could get really nuanced. The other thing is press.
Matt Giovanisci:So so actual, you know, links oh, links and images to press because I have some magazine stuff that I've been in and I have pictures of it. Press kit or it probably wouldn't be called a press kit, a media kit, with logos and brand guidelines. We need a contact form. And I filled this up fast. Okay.
Matt Giovanisci:One of the other things I thought about was press contact form. Links and images to press. Oh, content. That means, podcast, links to podcast, social media. If you hear that banging, it's just a stupid board.
Matt Giovanisci:It's not Social media. Yeah. YouTube. They're already on the website. Okay.
Matt Giovanisci:So we have a big mission statement. I gotta walk around. So we have a big mission statement. We have how we plan to achieve that. So, essentially, like, just spitballing off the top of my head.
Matt Giovanisci:Let's say the mission statement is actually, I think about Kevin's from Epic Gardening, and he's like, teach the world to grow. Right? I I love that because it's so specific and it's very short sentence. The problem that I've always had with Swim University is that we cater to pool and hot tub, and I always like to include those keywords into any sort of, like, mission statement or any sort of statement, I should say, outside of our brand name because swim university doesn't doesn't portray that. Now if we were called pool care university, and that's all we did, then I would probably not have to include those keywords in our mission, if that makes sense.
Matt Giovanisci:I don't wanna be redundant. So Swim University could be something like and let's just use Kevin's example. This is not gonna be it. But we teach pool and hot tub owners that's it sucks already. Look.
Matt Giovanisci:Because, it's like we it's it's just teach the world to grow. So teach pool and hot tub owners easy maintenance. Could be that. K? And then we say, how do we plan on doing that?
Matt Giovanisci:Through free and through videos, in-depth articles, and enter and info, you know, graphics on our website and across all social media, YouTube, etcetera. Right? How we started. Then we go into the history of how Swim University got started and what it is today. That is it got started with just me as a person who worked.
Matt Giovanisci:I worked in the pool industry. We need that credibility that, hey. I have been literally in the pool industry since 1993, and here's proof of as a kid, I wish I had proof as a kid, like, standing behind a water testing lab, but I I don't think I have any pictures of any time I was ever working at a pool store. And if I did, that would be awesome if I did. I just I know I have pictures going back.
Matt Giovanisci:I could look. I mean, yeah. I I it would take some digging, but it would be important. You know, I do have I do I can find pictures of the places that I've worked. I've worked at 3 different pool companies, and I'm sure on the Internet, there are photos of those places.
Matt Giovanisci:I mean, some still exist. Only only one doesn't. So that one might be tough to find. Does it is it important that I mention who they are? No.
Matt Giovanisci:In fact, I don't really wanna mention who they are. Although, one, I yeah. You know, the more specific, the better, I guess. And maybe that's the other thing is that maybe one of the pool companies that I worked for, somebody reads and goes, oh, I know that company or, you know, because it's semi big in that New Jersey area or I should say South Jersey, so it's big in that tiny little subset of of New Jersey, but and again, in the pool industry, it might be known, but I doubt it. So I don't wanna really wanna play that up at all.
Matt Giovanisci:Because again, what if somebody hates that company and then I'd look like I'd look I'd look not credible. So I don't wanna tie my worth to the companies that I previously worked for. The in the same way that, like, I know somebody like Noah Kagan has put it on his resume. I think he says, like, 5th employee at Mint and then, like, some employee at Facebook as like as as like a lend to credibility. So I don't think that that's any makes sense.
Matt Giovanisci:What does make sense is that I've been I've only worked in pools since 1993. It's the only job I've ever had. And I've you know, doesn't matter what positions I held in those companies because in the latter half of working in the industry, it was more in the marketing side. But the entire first half was just in the store level. And then kind of in between there, I did service.
Matt Giovanisci:So I but I didn't do a ton of service, but I did I managed a service company and I did service jobs when we needed we needed extra hands to do service jobs. So, yeah, I don't know. So we have okay. So then let's say team alright. So we have the short the short history, the historic photos, and then and I can I I think it's important to look up other about pages?
Matt Giovanisci:I should've I should I can I can do that when the time comes to to start designing it because I think designing it is gonna be a whole different thing? Then there's yes. We definitely need one team photo. Right now, we have if you're on mobile, the team photo section takes up the entire like, like, it takes up a big section because the because it's, responsive. But I think just having one photo takes care of a lot of that.
Matt Giovanisci:I don't know if we need each individual person to I don't think we need to divide each individual person's role in the company. I don't think anybody really cares about that. I think they care about me because that's the person they're ultimately gonna reach out to. It's my name and the email address. I run the team, and I'm the center of it.
Matt Giovanisci:So it's my brother and my wife. So that's how it should be written, I think, too. It shouldn't be written I honestly think it shouldn't be written in the 3rd person because I kinda wanna speak as if I'm the person. Because, again, I want press to reach out to me. And then I also want anyone who's trying to find our credibility to say, oh, Matt Matt is this Matt is the guy.
Matt Giovanisci:Okay. Got it. And, again, that's like an AI future proofing way of doing it. Plus, I could do it in the 3rd. Like, on our articles, I always write it as if it's me because I'm the I'm the author.
Matt Giovanisci:But in this case, it's the company. So who knows? I that one I could go back and forth on. The press areas, though, is where I'm really interested in is, like, okay. Well, 1, I don't have a lot of existing press to my name, but I do have I do have full spreads with my picture, not like nudes, but like magazine spreads with my photo in it.
Matt Giovanisci:I actually have a picture of me holding up. I do have that somewhere. I have a picture of me in a suit at a trade show holding up the magazine article about me, about pools. So that's a good picture. I don't have a so I was also on Martha Stewart Living Radio, and I don't have I might still have the m p threes of that.
Matt Giovanisci:I might. So I can look for those. But if not, I can assuming Martha Stewart living radio is still a thing, which I assume it is, I could at least get the logo for that. And then I could do, like, our so I used to have a featured in section on our home page, but I've since switched that to our to the a different thing. Now oh, that's another thing.
Matt Giovanisci:I want stats. So I put those stats that I'm talking about on our home page. I just don't think that they're very compelling because I used the letter k. To explain what I mean is I say, you know, the idea of the home page and having, like, featured in. You have those featured in icons of, like, hey.
Matt Giovanisci:I was featured in New York Times. I was featured in Vice Magazine, whatever it is. And the whole idea of that is just to show that you're credible. If a if a press organization has interviewed you or you have done some type of piece in a popular you're just associating with that publication. Right?
Matt Giovanisci:So I tend to avoid publicizing certain things because I wanna feel or I want our brand to be very nonpolitical. So if I were to say, hey. I was featured in The New York Times. To Republicans or I guess some Republicans, that paper is a leftist paper. And so I or like the Washington Post, I don't want to put those things on my resume mainly because I don't wanna be the I don't want someone in the opposite party, if you can figure out what party I'm in, to to go, I don't trust this fucking liberal rag.
Matt Giovanisci:It's like, alright. Well, that's stupid. We're a pool company. But yeah. So I gotta avoid that.
Matt Giovanisci:However, on our homepage, I have stats. 200,000 subscribers on our YouTube channel, 4,500,000 annual visitors on our website, etcetera, etcetera. But because I have a limited amount of space to to show those stats, instead of putting the full number like 4,500,000, is an impressive number when you start adding when you start seeing all the zeros. It's not very impressive when you just see 4.5 m. And it's not very impressive when you just see 200 k.
Matt Giovanisci:3 zeros to me is better than k. K? So adding the stats and including the icons. I'm gonna write that too. Stats with icons, colored icons.
Matt Giovanisci:So that it's the red YouTube blah blah blah, linked to our YouTube channel, linked linked to all of those things for sure. And that's just gonna lend credibility. That'll also help with press. So the I do need some more press stuff. I have, I've reached out to a PR company.
Matt Giovanisci:I'm probably gonna end up working with them, but and maybe maybe a few times. But right now, it's the middle of the winter, and so I don't feel like it's a good time to get press written. I think the pool the big like, right before pool season would be a good time. So I'll probably do something in April. But I guess, meanwhile, I could do something in hot tubs.
Matt Giovanisci:So, yeah, maybe that's worth starting now and seeing how it goes. So anyway, alright. So we have that. So press includes press I've done and then how to contact us, for press. So for example, I'm gonna have a contact form, probably not a form.
Matt Giovanisci:I'm probably just gonna include my email address, maybe a phone number. Although that opens us up to people calling us, which I'm probably gonna avoid. So I probably won't put a phone number. So I'll put an email address, and I'll put social media contacts. That's fine.
Matt Giovanisci:And so not contact form because again, I don't want it to be used and don't want the form to fail. I'd rather contact, I'd rather email and social. Links. Got it. Okay.
Matt Giovanisci:What else? Yeah. I also want assets, brand assets. So I would upload my icon, my logo, my colors. I basically put together a press kit, like a like a PDF with our, you know, our brand logos, all different formats, and I could put that all on that page.
Matt Giovanisci:And I want that because if anyone decides not to interview me, but uses and maybe that could be a separate I wonder if I need to make the press page a separate page Because I'm thinking about page important for the stats should still have a contact form, should still, you know, have the mission statement, team photo, all of that, but keep it short. And then have a separate page for press because maybe that will attract more journalists. So it will keep out the standard people, meaning, like, the general pool and hot tub owners who just wanna see my credibility and learn a little bit about us before they buy our course or whatever, buy our products. And then maybe I have a separate page for press, meaning I show press we've done, and I've and I show, our our asset kit. So, you know, our logos in different formats, PNG, SVG, all of those different things, you know, black and white color, how you know, however they wanna do it, photos of me, you know, like, full, you know, full high res photos of me to include in different pieces and stuff like that.
Matt Giovanisci:So, yeah, I'm gonna write photos of me because I didn't write that. Photos of Matt, which I have. I have all the images, logos, brand guidelines. I wrote that. PDF.
Matt Giovanisci:I wanna write PDF. I my handwriting is atrocious. Okay. So, yeah, I think that that's what needs to happen. I think it needs to be 2 separate pages.
Matt Giovanisci:Although, if somebody from any journal again, I think we really are talking about 2 different things. We're talking about EEAT, SEO, that's what the about page is for, and then getting backlinks or sort of like fishing for backlinks, meaning, like, just putting the bait out there, anybody wants to take it, go run with it. That probably should be a press. And I don't know if press is the right word because alt I know some companies, when they when they have press at the bottom, it's usually just their press. You know?
Matt Giovanisci:Hey. This is just like a a wall of bragging. Like, when you go into a restaurant and they have, you know, hey. We've been in this magazine. We achieved this award, etcetera.
Matt Giovanisci:But we could do maybe there's another phrase, and I'll have to look at how other people phrase it. Maybe it's media kit or maybe it's just contact us. And contact us is all also, like, press and, you know, or I don't know. So that's something I'll have to think through. In fact, do I have to think through it, or can I brainstorm it now?
Matt Giovanisci:If I were to if I were to find if I were to think about a company that does this well, who would I think of? Who would I think of? As somebody who's, like, kind of a marketing who likes I'm trying to trying to find a different word than this one. But someone who really likes marketing a a lot that I wouldn't take advice from normally just because it's maybe a little douchey, but they know all the tricks and they're gonna pull all the tricks and they're probably gonna have that. I'm thinking people like Neil Patel or there's like I'm thinking what used to be backlinko but now isn't I doubt Semrush is gonna have something like that.
Matt Giovanisci:Probably individuals, maybe like Ramit or maybe Ramsey. Although, Ramsey is probably not going out and doing interviews and giving a shit about backlinks because he's got such a media profile, but maybe somebody who could be maybe somebody who's focused more on backlinks. And, again, I would think that that would be an SEO person who has, like, a a general brand. And maybe, there's, like, you know, we we maybe we and maybe we separate it out where we go. Let me I'm gonna actually, I'm gonna take a picture of this real quick, assuming I can.
Matt Giovanisci:Probably not. Well, the idea is maybe we have to do a maybe I have to do another episode where okay. Yeah. We brainstormed the about page, but how does that maybe the press page has to be something different. So just kinda going back to the about page, I don't think it should be very long, but I do think the most important pieces are the mission statement, the history, the current team, the stats, and links to everything, links to all of our, social media channels, our, you know, sign up for email, everything.
Matt Giovanisci:And and I think it absolutely should have a way for people to sign up via email instead of maybe a contact or maybe that's part of it. It's like maybe there's a section. It's like how to contact us. We have email, like, you know, email us, join our email list, or follow us on social media. And it has those those links.
Matt Giovanisci:So, yeah, I think that this is incredibly important. And I think, once now that I have essentially what needs to happen on that page, the next stage of actually executing this is to just do it and maybe do it crudely. Like, right now, it's pretty crude. Like, we don't have a team photo. Fine.
Matt Giovanisci:Is that something I photoshop? No. But I do have a photo of Steph and I holding up a YouTube plaque, and I could very easily get that photo without my brother. Although, I can be like, hey, Chris, just come over. And it would be nice if someone else had the camera because, I mean, he's good at taking photos, but he also needs to be in the photos.
Matt Giovanisci:So it might just be one of those things where we, you know, we stand there and have it on the tripod and we can do it on our deck. And once the snow melts, because it's gonna be weird if there's snow outside, and we just take a bunch of pictures. Like, we have the camera just automatically take pictures. Actually, I might have a remote for the camera. So that will probably work.
Matt Giovanisci:Or I could just get somebody that I know, like, my one of my friends or whatever to just take the photo for me. Not a big deal. Or just stay up behind there and press the button. Not a huge deal. You know, we could if we really wanted to, although I think this is a little over.
Matt Giovanisci:Yeah. I can get my buddy to do it. He's a photographer. He's just not not in the country right now, but alright. So I can do that.
Matt Giovanisci:And, yeah, I think everyone should come over here. We have the plaques. Chris should just come over here, and then we just take the we just do that for a day. And then we can do that maybe maybe we just decide to, like, have a little mini party or something. Just, you know, it's like, hey.
Matt Giovanisci:Don't just drive down here to take a photo. Like, chill, hang out, relax, enjoy yourself sort of thing. Yeah. That is the biggest bugaboo for me. Now do we do a video?
Matt Giovanisci:So I can technically do a video. It wouldn't be a bad idea. In fact, let me write that down. But I, you know, I wouldn't have them in it, the team. It would just really be me telling my story and my mission.
Matt Giovanisci:It would be it it basically, the outline would be the about page. Like, hi. Like, my mission at Swim University our mission at Swim University is to help blah blah blah blah blah. And to do that, we we're we have this, we have that, we have this, we have that. Hi.
Matt Giovanisci:My name is Matt, and I am the founder of Swim University. I started this company in 2,006 while I was working at a pool company, and I've been in because I've been in the industry since 1993. In fact, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Today, you know, what started as a one man show is now a 3 person team, and those and those and those and my team members just so happen to be related to me. My my wife and business partner helps with YouTube and and writing scripts and video content and editing, and my brother helps with social media and customer service.
Matt Giovanisci:Together, we are Swim University. We have no affiliations with any brands. We are completely unbiased and are again, because our goal is to do this. So thank you for checking out our about page. I hope you know, if you have any questions, shoot us an email, etcetera.
Matt Giovanisci:That might be that might be worth doing a video and also kind of using that script in underneath. So for those who don't wanna watch the video, you know, then we just have the, you know, the basically, the script to print it. And after that, we show our credibility. We or so we do our team photo, and we show our credibility and then how to contact us. I think it should be that simple.
Matt Giovanisci:And that way, you know, do we put our products there? Probably not because our products are at the top, but we don't use it as a place to sell. We just use it as a place to tell people what we're all about. And at the same time, how we plan to help you as a pulling hot tub owner. That, I think, is the most important.
Matt Giovanisci:Now we could link over to like, you know, in the contact section, I could link over to press, a press page. That page feels very different. It that page can is almost we have to think about it like a sales page for me. The idea is I want it's bait. I want the action I want people to take is to basically email me.
Matt Giovanisci:Right? Email me or DM me, wherever is convenient for them. Maybe it's just one button that says, you know, contact me for interview. You know, just letting people know, like, hey. I I'm open to doing interviews, podcast interviews, written interviews, video interviews.
Matt Giovanisci:I am you know, maybe I put that term Internet's pool boy as sort of the moniker that I want people to use and I want because that would be interesting. I could also, you know, obviously include high quality images of myself. In fact, this is sort of reminding me of a page that I did for Money Lab, which I believe still exists. So if you're interested, I don't know how long it'll be up, but if you're interested, it's moneylab.co/ guest. And the whole idea of that page, which actually which actually worked, the whole idea of that page, I am thinking about this, was to it was a sales page to book me as a guest on your podcast.
Matt Giovanisci:And all I did was I sent it out, and it went not viral, but it spread around enough, and it was funny and interesting enough to my audience that I think I booked, like, 30 interviews from it. So, you know, all pretty small podcasts, but some of those got me links. What I could do is what I could do, and I'm this is a ballsy thing to do, but whatever. Let's say I look at that now that page was more tongue in cheek. I wouldn't do that for some university, but I could take a lot of the ideas mainly being there was a I think I had a Calendly link in it where I could say, hey.
Matt Giovanisci:Book me for an interview. So I could do that where I go, alright. I'm gonna open up Fridays to that makes me a little nervous because, like, anyone can do it, but I could just approve or deny. So I could say, hey. You know, who is this for?
Matt Giovanisci:And, you know, because that the last thing I want yeah. It's not a good idea. Because the last thing I want is somebody to be like, I just wanna consult my pool, and they'll just go book a Gallogly link and etcetera. So, yeah, I think, just having an email address, because it's fine. We we have a way to filtering emails.
Matt Giovanisci:And then just, like, maybe that's just the link. It's, like, click here and yeah. There has to be a singular call to action, which I think is email. We also have, you know, the the I could just call the section, like, media kit, which has our logo, our icon, full color. I could do black and white as well and and pictures of me both with a background and without a background.
Matt Giovanisci:And I could probably just pick 1. Or I could just what I could do is, just have one button that links to all of those things. That probably makes more sense. But, hey, if somebody just wants to I'll have to look at other pages and how they're designed for that. I probably don't need brand guidelines because it's not I don't as long as you use my logo and you use my picture and my moniker, I'm I'm am I spelling my name right?
Matt Giovanisci:I'm fine with that. And I think, yeah. I went oh, thinking about going hold on. Going back to the about page, again, I had a really interesting about page for Money Lab as well, which was, again, sort of my mission statement at the top, which was just really, like, a quick about me because the whole thing is about me. And there was a picture of me.
Matt Giovanisci:And I think that is what the press page has to be is like, hey. My name's Matt, and I wanna you know, I'm here to help you take care of your pool and hot tub, whatever whatever. So, yeah, there's, yeah, there's probably some cool design shit I could do there. I think that would be helpful to make that page feel really, like, woah. This is because, again, I think with the press page, I want it to feel very professional, and I do wanna include I think it's important to include stats there as well and play I maybe not stats so much, but here's how to contact us.
Matt Giovanisci:And, you know, here's the places that I've been. Meaning, like, here's podcasts I've been on. And again, I'd have to build this up. You know, here's press we've been featured in before, and maybe not maybe links to those for sure, but also because that the links could give those journalists ideas for stories if they're just like, hey, I have this story or, oh, I could do I could knock 2 I could interview this guy once and knock 2 stories out of it. Or, you know, the other thing too is to think about podcasters.
Matt Giovanisci:This could also be a page where I could, if I wanted to, and and maybe it's worth trying, is I'll I'll create a process for finding credible podcast to be on. Right? And or, you know, reach out to a better yet, I could probably reach out to a company that books podcasting guests and, you know, hey, say, look, I got this page. It has everything that a podcaster needs. It has samples of my voice.
Matt Giovanisci:I have a professional microphone because that was a part of my pitch in that money lab one was, like, you you I'm a great catch. I'm a great guest because I have a studio quality microphone. I've been a podcaster since 2000 freaking shit. Like, 2004. I've been podcasting.
Matt Giovanisci:I have I've studied broadcasting. I have, professional studio quality mic. I I'm in a professional studio. I can record on my end. Like, I can do a lot of things that a podcast would be like.
Matt Giovanisci:This is the easiest interview we'd ever done, which is why I've done interviews on podcast where they're like, do you just wanna be a regular guest? Because it's like, you're just so easy to work with. I don't stutter. I'm not boring. So, yeah, I gotta play that up in a press page for sure.
Matt Giovanisci:You know? I I think what press pages, at least I've not looked at a lot, so, again, I have to go do some research. My guess is that they failed to really sell why the company needs to be talked about. Maybe I could look at Clavio. I'm just thinking, like, they do a pretty good job with their front end marketing, but there's no singular person that they're pitching.
Matt Giovanisci:Although, I don't know that maybe that may not be true, but I'm just trying to think. I bet Ramit has something because he's got a Netflix show. He's been, he's been interviewed. We interviewed him when he when he rereleased his book. Maybe somebody maybe there's like certain personalities I could look at like I just remind Susie Orman was somebody I was just reminded of because we we interviewed Susie Orman on Listen Money Matters, and it was because she just released a book or something.
Matt Giovanisci:So she was on tour, but yeah. I mean, she somebody I was actively reaching out on her behalf. But I wonder if she has that sort of, like, press bait link somewhere on her website. I'm sure she has a a website. So I'm thinking, like, personalities like that might be good to emulate and, you know, depending on who they are.
Matt Giovanisci:Maybe companies maybe companies that have I don't know. That's something that's a I would like to dig into that a little bit more, and I think it might be worth another episode. Because after I go digging around and educating myself more about it, at least I know a lot about about pages. I've done so many of them. Press pages, I need to crystallize that a little bit.
Matt Giovanisci:So, yeah, for now, let's wrap this episode up. That's my brainstorming session with about pages. I'm gonna go knock that out. One of the things I wanna do is I need to write a video script. I need to organize a team photo, and I need to dig up some historic photos.
Matt Giovanisci:So if I'm gonna write a list of things to do, those are the 3, and I'm gonna get started. Alright. That's it. Bye.
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